Wayne’s Sierra Club World: Citizen Advocacy Crucial for Democracy, Justice, and Our Future
By Wayne Tanaka, Chapter Director | Reading time: 4.75 minutes
Almost 200 years ago, Alexis de Tocqueville suggested in his book, Democracy in America, that voting alone would be insufficient to ensure a truly democratic society – that a true democracy requires not submissive obedience but active and continual resistance by its citizens to the inequities they collectively experience in their daily lives. As he wrote,
It is vain to summon a people, which has been rendered so dependent on the central power, to choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity.
Hawai‘i’s own recent history is replete with examples of the importance of community engagement not just at the polls but in the streets, courts, and halls of power, in building a stronger, more democratic, and more just society. From the sugar strikes of the 1940s, where workers and their families broke through the “Big 5” plantations’ oppressive iron grip over their labor and lives; to the citizen-driven Constitutional Convention of 1978, which recognized the state’s commitment to restorative justice for Kānaka ʻŌiwi, and which to this day guarantees the public interest in water, and our right to a healthful environment; to the ongoing Red Hill campaign, where Hawaiʻi residents from all walks of life convinced the Pentagon to finally order the closure of the Navy’s “ticking time bomb” fuel facility that had threatened Oʻahu’s precious aquifer for eight decades; citizen advocacy, activism, and organizing have had a profound role in protecting, healing, and maintaining the integrity of our islands’ environment and social fabric, and in advancing the public interest in the face of injustice, oppression, and oligarchal exploitation of people and ‘āina.
Korea Peace Now! Hawaiʻi Chapter organized a sign waving rally outside the Korean Consulate in Nuʻuanu, calling for South Korean President Yoon's resignation after a failed attempt at declaring martial law to silence political dissent. Speakers decried Yoon's move as an overt escalation of the growing trend of elected leaders pursuing authoritarian policies -- globally and even here at home. Photo: Wayne Tanaka.
Unfortunately, decades of corporate denigration of activism - including and particularly around the climate crisis - appear to have now culminated in a global trend of elected leaders emboldened to silence voices and perspectives that may be contrary to or inconvenient for their own. These leaders not only undermine their own democracies, but exacerbate inequities and systemic failings that are often only truly seen by marginalized groups most vulnerable to political suppression.
South Korean President Yoon’s short-lived attempt at imposing martial law, ordering a halt to political activities and using the Korean military’s elite anti-terrorism units to shut down the National Assembly, was a notably overt escalation of this trend. However, even here in Hawai‘i, our own elected leaders have appeared more and more willing to give in to the temptations of authoritarian control and the formal and political oppression of dissenting voices.
For example, many may remember the bewildering attempt by former Governor Ige to deploy the National Guard against highly organized, peaceful, kapu aloha-bound Kānaka ʻŌiwi protectors on the Mauna Kea Access Road, relying on racist tropes to claim, with all evidence to the contrary, that “alcohol and drug use” justified his actions (a standard that would easily be met on any Saturday night in Waikīkī).
Our current Governor Green has also repeatedly attempted to use his emergency powers to silence the voices of cultural practitioners and other environmental advocates, suspending key mechanisms for cultural and environmental protection to benefit developers of non-affordable housing. His administration has also exploited the Maui wildfires to suspend hard-fought water protections for Native Hawaiians and small farmers and “reassign” a celebrated water deputy whose years of unprecedented progress proved inconvenient for developers and landowners - while blatantly lying to the media about water rights advocates “fighting against the release of water to fight fires.”
Months of community organizing and activism successfully pushed back against these moves, although attempts by the Governor’s administration to quell the voices and rights of community members in favor of corporate special interests have continued.
Most recently, our own Congressman Ed Case has voted in support of federal legislation to allow the Secretary of the Treasury to arbitrarily label and repeal the tax status of any nonprofit they claim is a “terrorist supporting organization”, chilling the work and speech of public interest organizations serving essential societal functions, and who may also have deep insight into government policies and systems that need improvement.
That elected officials even here in Hawai‘i, with our long history of social activism, may be giving in to the authoritarian temptation to silence community voices and political dissent is more than a little concerning. As we navigate an increasingly uncertain future, we must accordingly strive even harder to remember and uplift citizen engagement and activism as key to building a better and brighter society and environment, for ourselves and our future generations.
Importantly, we must also be willing to push back, together, against those leaders who may try to eliminate or “streamline” away our constitutional and human rights to a healthful environment, free speech, and democratic governance, in favor of well-connected industry interests. Standing up to the powers that be is not easy work, but history shows that those with the courage and commitment to do so may be our last bulwark against the nearly irreversible drift into fascism.
With Big Oil and the military industrial complex driving policies and courting politicians at all levels of government - and urging the governmental suppression, oppression, and persecution of those who would stand in their way - our very future may depend on it.
In 2025, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi is committed to empowering our communities to stand up for our people, ʻāina, and future generations. Be sure to join us in this work by subscribing to and sharing our action alerts and social media posts, signing up to volunteer on one of our campaigns, and donating to support our programs, including our newly launched ʻŌpio Community Organizing Training Workshop series.